So, how does one woman raise a family, turn a business into one of Wisconsin’s largest woman-owned enterprises, form a community organization dedicated to her passion, and collaborate with local leaders and dignitaries to create one of Milwaukee’s great attractions all in the same lifetime? This same woman, now settled into retirement, is still going strong and impacting our community in positive ways. I was eager to know how she does it.

Living across the street from Riverside Park in the early 80’s during his years as a student at UWM, Eric Crawford had no idea he would travel to another part of the world only to return to these roots some twenty years later. 

In 2005, the Crawfords were living in the Netherlands, but had returned to Milwaukee for a visit when Eric discovered the Urban Ecology Center.

He instantly understood how its presence here would have a deep impact in his former neighborhood.